And the Rest of November (and maybe some of December)

So...where did I leave off...oh yes...the middle of November.

First up, Happy (Belated) Birthday Kaylee!!!!  She turned 12 this year (and that makes me feel old).  She is also growing up to be a very beautiful young lady and I am super great-full to have her as part of my family!  I remember the first time her and Sami came to visit G and I overnight so many years ago...it is amazing how quickly time passes!  Anyway, while we couldn't be there for her birthday part, we made sure we sent a gift...a deluxe sketch kit, and from what I hear she loves it!  It looked like Kaylee's party was a success, and we really wished we could have been there.  We also made her an online birthday card and posted it on Facebook.  Here's to hoping we didn't embarrass Kaylee too much!It always stinks that the girls live so far away, but even more so on birthday's and holidays!  It always makes me wish we were all still because in Sierra Vista so we could see each-other more often!

Kaylee, the first time they came for an overnight visit

Kaylee at her 12th Birthday Party

Next up, Thanksgiving.  This year the boys and I headed up to Cleveland to spend Turkey Day with my family.  It was a very quick trip, but we were able to get a lot done.  The ride up there, was rather uneventful, which was really nice.  We ended up being able to leave at lunch time because the schools here in Pulaski closed for a nasty storm that was brewing.  So, I skipped my philosophy class and we were on our way up to Cleveland.  Of course, even though I cut the boys off of liquids on the way up there, we stopped exactly ever hour and a half to pee (go figure).  On the upside, I actually only paid $3.03 a gallon on the north side of Nashville...the only bad thing was, I had already put $100 in my tank the day before in Pulaski (I have a 44 gallon tank...and it takes two swipes to fill up).  The way home, we weren't so lucky.  We sat in traffic for over 2 hours on the north side of Columbus.  The only good thing about that was, after avoiding peeing my pants and getting a yummy wildberry lemonade for Wendy's, I only paid $2.96 for gas...I cannot remember the last time I paid that little for gas...so that was kind of cool!  But, the rest of the trip stunk...it poured the whole time, and it took us almost 14 hours to make the trip that only took us 9.5 on the way up!

 

Anyway, we made it safely to Cleveland.  We ate some yummy food at Grammy Jane's and then headed over to Grandma  Borgmann's for dessert.  While we were there, I guilt-tripped my mom into opening her Christmas present while I was in Cleveland (she prefers to wait until Christmas Day)...I used the whole, "But don't I deserve to see how excited you are to get what I gave you" line and then asked all of the rest of our family there if they thought the same thing.  I won...she opened it, and she loved it!  If you look closely at the picture above, you will notice Kade has a bone clenched in his mouth.  He ate an entire turkey leg, by himself...or I should say...he picked the damn thing clean to the point it looked like it had been found in a desert years after being left behind.  To top it off, we were not allowed to throw it out...he insisted on saving it...for two days.  I would have been worried about maggots, but, like I said...it was picked clean.

Grammy Jane and the kids making some weird pineapple cranberry crap

Thanks Aunt Kelley, for getting the stuff to make s'mores!

Now, on to Cookie Time!  And yes, I capitalized that...because it is an event...which as far as I am concerned makes it a proper noun.  Every year my family goes on an epic cookie baking spree.  And I mean epic.  The amount of cookies that are put out each year is ridiculous, and from my understanding they have already downsized the number and amount of cookies they make each year.  I know my Aunt Butch was less than thrilled it was in Cleveland this year, because they have two ovens at her house which helps speed along the process.  But, I am glad it was at Aunt Nancy's this year so that my boys and I could be there.  There is no real way to describe how many cookies they make, except for to show you...

Kade making some spritz cookies

of course, there is always some kind of flour/sugar fight...this year it was me and Ben (my 9 or 10 year old cousin)...its all good...I dumped an entire box of Bisquick on his head before we were through

yummy...Drew's favorite cookies...go figure...we were NEVER allowed to mix colors on our sugar cookies when I was younger

Me and my Aunt Butch!  I :heart: her (she is also my Godmother)

of course, cookie making requires power tools...the boys decided hand sanding the wooden dowels for the clothespin cookies would take too long, so they helped themselves to Uncle Gale's power-sander

My mom HATES making cookies...so here she is supervising the making of Buckeye Balls (my fav)...she kept making us make them smaller...geesh

Everyone helps...no matter how young...4 generations of Borgmann's were working on this batch

and we were never allowed to have 2 sugar shakers at once either...Kids today

Yeah, I totally egged Liam on (he's my cousin's Leigh's baby boy with his Grandma)...I had all the kids licking the sugar off the table...he he he

Drew was very focused on the cookies

some getting ready to go in the oven

the amount of cookies made was ridiculous.  there were 3 tables covered in cookies that were done, plus the kitchen table and counters covered with ones that needed to hit the oven still

Look...no one lost an eye!!!  Amazing...my 2 boys and a power tool with no injuries!

So, we get back to Tennessee and what happens?  It snows!  Not a whole lot, but the boys thought it looked pretty cool...and they were amazed by the ice that formed in the bird bath.  I don't know that Drew was thrilled with how cold it was, but they both are hoping for some more snow soon so that they can build a snowman...unfortunately, it has been pretty warm here lately and almost 70 degrees...so it looks like we won't be having a white Christmas (not that we expected one)...but we can still hope!  I also managed to finish my Christmas shopping, which was nice and score myself a pair of some kick-ass converse shoes...now that may not seem like a huge deal, but I wear a half-size in converse and can never find them in the stores...and while I get that I can technically order them online...I hate to do that because I never know if I like them or not until I see them on my feet.

Aren't they cute?  I wanted the grey and light pink ones, but these were the only ones they had in my size!

And last but not least, for the this post (I lied...we won't be getting to December since this is already too long)...look at what I painted:

No, it's not a paint-by-number (thanks Mom)...but it was a lot of fun.  There is a lady that comes down here, and for a small fee, will walk you through painting that month's project.  There's wine (and beer) involved, and a bunch of ladies.  And a lot of fun.  We did snowmen (my favorite) this time around, and I totally appreciate Pa Pa watching the boys so Angie and I could go together.  Can't wait until January - we're doing a heart one!

Anyways, that is all for now.  It's feeding time at the zoo, so more later.

And if I don't get back before Christmas - Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Better Late than Never!

Oh wow, it's been almost a month.  My goal when starting this blog was to try and post at least once a week.  I use to blog religiously (on another site), and it was always fun to go back and read what happened in the past and I really don't want to lose that.  So let's get started, shall we?

First up Veteran's Day.  I love this holiday...well, okay, who am I kidding?  I love just about every holiday.  But  Veteran's Day holds a special meaning to me for a lot of different reasons.  1- I still get goose bumps *every time* I hear the national anthem (in my opinion, the only thing better than a perfectly played/sung National Anthem is one that is done imperfectly by children); 2- some of my closest and/or oldest friends, including my husband, are currently serving; 3- I come from a long line of those who have served our country, and can in fact claim there has been or is currently someone in my family who has served in every branch of the military (well, except maybe Coast Guards); 4- I use to be in the Army myself, and loved every minute of it!  Plus, while I believe we should salute our troops every day, having a day specifically set aside for our men and women in uniform is a wonderful thing.  This year, Kade's 2nd grade class did a salute to our veterans.  It was adorable, they sang everything from the national anthem (it was beautiful) to "Proud to be an American".  In all, they probably sang over 10 songs...all from memory, while dressed in red, white, & blue.  On top of that, they asked that all current or former military members sit in the front two rows, and while playing each corps song, asked that we file on stage.  It was priceless to see how proud of me my son was for being up there, and then shouting out that his daddy was still in the army.  He was also especially proud of his "Thank You Veterans" card he made being hung on the front entrance of the school!  

Kade's class up on stage for their song!

Next up, Native Indian Night at Boy Scouts.  Unfortantely, I was not able to go because I had to go to a school function.  Luckily, Grammy was able to take Kade and Drew to their pack meeting...and from what I heard, everyone had a blast.  They listened to stories about Native Indians, learned how they lived, and were shown examples of how Native Indians used every piece of an animal that was killed.  Here are just a few of some of my favorite pictures Angie took (mom, I am so jealous of your camera...still).

Kade and Drew with their den

Warrior Drew

Warrior Kade

Kade and Drew with their friend Aiden

 Aside from all the organized activities for the month, the boys also had a blast enjoying a few of the warmer days outside with Grammy and Pa Pa while I worked on getting ahead in my classes for our trip to Ohio over Thanksgiving Break.

Drew with Kuddles

It is amazing how much fun kids can have with a wagon

I love this picture of Kade

 And that is going to have to be it for tonight, as I have spent way too much time on blogger and not enough time studying for my finals.  I'll be back later this week to do an update about what has been going on since then, to include our trip to Ohio for Thanksgiving, the Christmas Cookie extravaganza, and Christmas shopping.  Hope you all had a great weekend and it continues on to be a great week!

Yeah for Fall!!!

So my little monsters have been asking since June when fall was going to get here.  For most people, it really isn't all that big of a deal, mostly because they get to see it every year.  I am not saying that these yearly fall people do not appreciate the beauty associated with the season (as I know for a fact this is false), but I am saying that Fall just is something they except to experience every year...but not so much Kade and Drew.  For them, "Fall" was something they only learned about in school.  There they read about it in book and were able to see a few photographs.  I mean, after all, we lived in Hawaii and Arizona since 2007 (or in other words, since my boys were 2 and 3).  And while these states are beautiful in their own right, its just not the same!

But now fall is here (actually, it is just about over)...and they are super excited.  They really can't get enough of playing the leaves and they think the colors are absolutely awesome!  Unfortunately, we have been crazy busy these last few weeks (what with going to Ohio for a week, and then all of us having to play catch up at school).  But this weekend we took a little time to go play outside and take some pictures in the leaves.  Mom even helped us out and took a few pictures of the boys and I, so that I could send them to Randy, and then took some pictures of us all with Jordan (yeah for camera timers!!!O  So be sure to check out, some of the pictures below and have a great Fall season!!!

 

My new most favorite picture of the boys and I!  Thanks for taking it mom!

Corn Mazes, Hay Rides, Pumpkins, and Halloween :-)

Fall is really one of my favorite times of year, and one of the things I missed the most living in Hawai'i the last two years.  Luckily for us, Tennessee is a beautiful place to be this time of year, even if the temperature keeps fluctuating between nice fall weather and weather cold enough to make your blood freeze.  These last few days have been a whirlwind of fall activities.  Saturday we went to Limoland Pumpkin Patch and had a ball.  In fact, I would say that it was the best $30 I have spent in a long, long time!  Plus, it was totally awesome to just get away from the textbooks for awhile (as I have been playing catch up here lately, from the midterms and time I missed while in Ohio earlier this month.

One of the things I liked the most about the Pumpkin Patch was that they had the pumpkins presorted by size and price, but laid out in such a way as to allow for some pretty cool pictures (like the one right here).  Plus, it kept me from having to tromp through an actual pumpkin patch...avoiding any possible encounters with snakes (yes, I know...I am a chicken).  The owners also had set up little photo opportunities for their visitors, that where all decked out in different little themes.  They even had a Christmas tree all decorated up with Halloween decorations...which, if they had thrown a turkey on top for the star, would have covered all three of my favorite holidays!!!!

Anyways, for $5 you could purchase an arm band and have a load of fun!  One of the first things we did was go on a hay ride, and we did that twice!  We rode around the property through the cattle pasture in an old cotton hauler, which was pretty cool.  The boys had a lot of fun checking out the cows and pointing out ever pile of cow dung they saw.  They were kind of grossed out when we drove over a pile, but hey, shit happens. We also were able to go through a corn maze (we did that twice as well), go down one of the coolest slides ever (we did that about 100 times), check out the farm animals, go swimming in corn, and crawl all over the coolest stack of tires.  We bought popcorn (twice), took a ride on a little train, and just all around had a blast.  Then it was time to grab some Taco Bell and Little Ceasers (we couldn't decide which we wanted more), and home for the night!  Check out the rest of the pictures from the Pumpkin Patch below.  You should be able to click on them to view them as a larger file.

Which Way Do We Go Man?  Which way do we go?

Pa Pa, Kade and Drew's Pumpkins (I carved the boys for them)

 

Halloween night was blast as well!!!  After rushing home from my lab science, with less than an hour until the Halloween festivities began, I find both my boys outside with Pa pa (in their customes)...not doing homework ;-)  Kade, of course, managed to leave his homework at school.  So that required a quick phone call to his teacher to get his spelling words done.  I have never seen him do his spelling words so quickly!  I swear, he 33 words in less than 12 minutes.  We had a quick bologna sandwich, fed the cats, and were outside taking pictures before 5 o'clock.  This year it was kind of cool because Grammy and Pa Pa went with us.  This was nice for me, as I actually was able to have adult conversation with someone other than myself as I walked around (although as much as I love Angie and George, it would have been nice to have my George with me)!  We hit the town square extravaganza, walked around Pa Pa's friend's neighboorhood, and then hit Trunk-or-Treat at a local church.  This was really cool because people decorated their trunks by different themes.  There was Toy Story, a Jungle, Mario Land, and even a chance for the kids to play a real-live game of Angry Birds.  Oh, and the kids were even given hot-dogs at one station (I figure if you can't eat a hot dog from a church on Halloween b'c its "not sealed" then there are some bigger issues than the hot dog itself).  Then it was time to come home, eat some pizza, and do our candy dump.  The beset part was, the boys were STILL in bed at their regular bed time, even if it did take them a little longer than normal to get to sleep!  The only thing missing was the rest of my family (We miss you Kaylee, Sami, and Daddy).

Here are some of my favorite pictures from last night.  If they are hard to see, be sure to click on them for a large picture!

 

Presenting the Mario Brothers....